Biographies, Profiles of Business, Tech and Influential Leaders
For decades, Nigeria’s oil industry belonged almost entirely to foreign majors and the national oil company. Austin Avuru helped change that. This Austin Avuru biography follows a geologist who spent twelve years at the state oil company, a decade at a pioneering Nigerian deepwater operator and then built his own company, Platform Petroleum, which became … Read more
African technology news used to reach readers mostly through foreign outlets. Tomiwa Aladekomo helped change that. This Tomiwa Aladekomo biography follows a Nigerian media executive who began in the music business, moved through marketing and digital transformation at major companies and then took over Big Cabal Media, the publisher of TechCabal and Zikoko. Under his … Read more
Two weeks after she graduated with a first-class degree in computer engineering, Odunayo Eweniyi joined a startup instead of taking a conventional job. That choice set off a career that produced a recruitment website, one of Nigeria’s biggest savings platforms and an investment fund for women founders. This Odunayo Eweniyi biography follows a co-founder who … Read more
Africa’s startup ecosystem looks very different from a decade ago, and few people shaped it as much as Kola Aina. This Kola Aina biography follows an engineer who built an enterprise software company, switched to investing and then backed some of the continent’s best-known technology businesses, including Paystack and Moniepoint. In August 2026, he led … Read more
Every video call, mobile payment and cloud application depends on physical things: towers, fibre cables and buildings full of servers. Wole Abu has spent more than two decades building and running those things in Nigeria. This Wole Abu biography follows a telecom executive who started inside a major mobile network, built a tower company from … Read more
Running an electricity distribution company means answering for every blackout, every wrong bill and every customer who waits for a meter. Folake Soetan did that job for six years as chief executive of Ikeja Electric, the largest electricity distributor in Nigeria by customer base. She began her career in aviation, moved into oil and gas … Read more
Investment banks rarely make headlines, but the deals they arrange decide which companies get funded, which governments can build roads and which pension funds earn returns. This Bolaji Balogun biography follows one of Nigeria’s best-known deal makers, a banker who left a secure career to help launch a mobile phone network, then returned to finance … Read more
A teenager in Lagos whose father worked in technology got a programming teacher at 16, and that decision shaped the next three decades. This Nkemdilim Begho biography follows a Nigerian technology entrepreneur who took over a family business, turned it into one of the country’s leading digital transformation firms and now sits on the boards … Read more
Adaora Mbelu is a Nigerian entrepreneur, brand strategist, storyteller and creative business leader whose work connects media, culture, education and entrepreneurship. Known professionally as Adaora “Lumina” Mbelu, she has spent more than 15 years helping individuals, companies and creative professionals communicate their ideas and develop meaningful projects. Her career spans television production, corporate communications, brand … Read more
Every time a Nigerian taps a card, sends a transfer or pays a bill from a phone, a payment switch decides where that transaction goes. Few people know the engineers who built such systems, and fewer know that one of them helped launch Africa’s first fintech unicorn. This Akeem Lawal biography follows a first-class engineer … Read more